Employment
Life in the Heavy Metal lane
Journalist Rob Richardson visits Wiltshire-based Heavy Lift transport company FTX Logistics to find out more about their drive for new Operators and Maintainers.
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here’s a 20 ton Oshkosh M1070F truck pulling into the barracks at Bulford, in Wiltshire. With the 26 Ton trailer attached, it takes a full three seconds to pass me. The cold autumn rain has given the twenty four metre long vehicle a dull sheen. It’s so enormous, the air seems to vibrate with raw power as it drives past and parks alongside the other dark green Heavy Equipment Transporters lined up in the enormous vehicle park. An Incredible Hulk of a vehicle. I’ve been invited to Bulford to find out a little bit more about FTX Logistics, a Heavy Lift transport company responsible for providing the Ministry of Defence’s heavy armour transport capability. This includes the upkeep and delivery of these incredible machines and their current recruitment drive for new Operators and Maintainers. Almost all 92 of these Heavy Equipment Transporters, or HETs, have been involved in supporting armoured vehicle deployments in locations including Iraq and Afghanistan, Mönchengladbach in Germany, Estonia and tasking throughout the UK in support of the Army. The driver of the HET I was witnessing gets marshalled into the oversized parking space and the immense 18 litre engine, the height of two men, shudders off. The barracks almost seems to fall silent. “How was the journey?” the Maintainer asks the driver, as they open the cab door and climb down to the tarmac. The mechanic had spent the previous two days trying to resolve a transmission fault. The previous driver had described the lorry as ‘a little jumpy’. “She ran like a dream,” the female driver reports. “No problems.” She indicates over my shoulder, acknowledging the tanks being lined up at the far end of the vehicle park. There are five 62-tonne Challenger 2 battle tanks primed and ready to
34 Easy Resettlement Magazine Winter 2021
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